Wednesday, February 10, 2016

WERE THERE CONFLICT(S) OF INTEREST(S) IN THE 9/11 COMMISSION?

Ramesh S Arunachalam

Did the 9/11 Commissioners (Chairman Kean, Vice Chairman Hamilton and
Individual Commissioners) and the 9/11 staff (Executive Director, Philip
Zelikow and Other Staff) have any CONFLICT(S) OF INTEREST(S), that
adversely affected the investigation of the 9/11 event as a CRIME? This
is especially a critical question given the VERY special and important
mandates provided to the 9/11 Commission by the PEOPLE of THE UNITED
STATES! Read on...folks...

What is meant by CONFLICT of INTEREST?

In this context, “A ‘conflict of interest’ is a SITUATION that arises
in which a person has a PRIVATE, PERSONAL, PROFESSIONAL AND/OR FINANCIAL
INTEREST sufficient to appear to influence the objective, independent
and impartial exercise of his/her official duties as, say, a PUBLIC
OFFICIAL, an EMPLOYEE OF A PUBLIC BODY, and/or a PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATED
WITH A PUBLIC BODY like the 9/11 Commission.”

Indeed, CONFLICTS
OF INTERESTS - which are often responsible for much of the malaise
found in governance - are one of the major themes explored in the book,
"9/11: The Unanswered Questions".

In a broad sense, two key questions are explored under the ‘conflict of interest’ theme:
a. Did CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS exist in the 9/11 Commission at the Aggregate Institutional Level?
b. Did the 9/11 Commissioners (Chairman Kean, Vice Chairman Hamilton
and Individual Commissioners) and the 9/11 staff (Executive Director,
Philip Zelikow and Other Staff) have CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS at an
individual level?

The CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS issue has indeed been raised by some people including the 9/11 affected families.

What is done differently though in this book is to examine in
MICROSCOPIC DETAIL the various aspects - such as working and personal
relationships, professional associations, family ties,
political/ideological associations, co-authorship and joint publications
of books/articles on important topics (including those related to the
subject of terrorism) and other related aspects and the like - to see
whether or not the 9/11 Commissioners (Chairman Kean, Vice Chairman
Hamilton and Individual Commissioners) and the 9/11 staff (Executive
Director, Philip Zelikow and Other Staff) had any CONFLICT(S) OF
INTEREST(S) that adversely impacted the work and investigation of the
9/11 CRIME including the findings, FINAL REPORT and recommendations.

Specifically, here the book looks at whether CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS resulted in any or all of the following:

a. Whether conflicts of interests prevented a thorough and objective investigation of the 9/11 event as a CRIME?

b. Did conflicts of interests cause important pieces of information and
evidence to be removed, omitted, suppressed, tampered with etc?

c. Did conflicts of interests result in exclusion of key people,
institutions, organizations and stakeholders - including 9/11 fellow
commissioners or staff who may have been in key positions in the George H
W Bush, Bill Clinton and George W Bush administrations in the preceding
10-12 years - known and/or related to the 9/11 Commissioners (Chairman
Kean, Vice Chairman Hamilton and Individual Commissioners) and the 9/11
staff (Executive Director, Philip Zelikow and Other Staff) from the
OVERALL PURVIEW of the 9/11 investigation?

d. Whether conflicts
of interests undermined the IMPARTIALITY, INDEPENDENCE, PROFESSIONALISM,
OBJECTIVITY AND THOROUGHNESS of the working of the 9/11 Commission in
the investigation of the 9/11 CRIME?

e. Did CONFLICTS OF
INTERESTS lead to the ABUSE OF THE TRUST reposed BY THE PEOPLE OF THE
UNITED STATES - in the 9/11 Commission, 9/11 Commissioners and 9/11
staffers – who gave them a huge and paramount mandate to investigate
9/11 as a CRIME?

f. Plus many more related issues.

The
book has analyzed the CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS issue in a very
comprehensive, objective, EVIDENCE BASED MANNER and provided all
available and necessary DETAILS in support of the arguments made. As
they often say, the DEVIL is in the DETAILS and the book strives to
substantiate its analysis of the CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS issue by
providing up to the smallest level of DETAIL (using the Principle of
Reductionism)!

And friends, stay tuned because you will truly be
amazed by what you see in the book and there is SOLID evidence (in black
and white) to substantiate the arguments made, which are far beyond
what has been publicly ever written/reported so far with regard to 9/11.
The evidence has to be seen to be believed and it is mind boggling my
friends.

The book, “9/11: The Unanswered Questions”, lays it all bare, clean and straight, with no vested interest what-so-ever!

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About Me

Ramesh S Arunachalam is an Engineer MBA who has been a columnist, a filmmaker, an entrepreneur, a development practitioner, a socio-political commentator, and a strategic advisor. He has worked in several areas including financial sector and its regulation and supervision, Governance, ERP systems, infrastructure and urban development, e Governance etc. Ramesh has completed over 260 professional assignments in 28 years, working in over 560 districts of India and over 25 countries in Asia, Africa, North America, Europe and the Caribbean. His clients include governments, bi-lateral and multi-lateral agencies, regulators, commercial banks, investment banks, microfinance institutions, private sector firms and several other stakeholders globally. He has authored and published numerous reports/studies/papers. His blog on microfinance has been well received and he has also penned several books - The Journey of Indian Microfinance, An Idea Which Went Wrong: Commercial Microfinance in India, Where Angels Prey and Madam President: History in the Making? – all of which have received critical acclaim. His forthcoming book, 9/11: The Unanswered Questions is slated for release in September 2016.